TDP leader in Assembly Errabelli Dayakar on Tuesday accused TRS government of deliberately delaying dispatch of drought report to the centre. Government should not go for a false prestige in acknowledging the drought and suicides in the state, he said.
Participating in the debate in Assembly on the farmers’ suicides in the Telangana state, Dayakar Rao, asked the government to spell out the reasons for the delay in sending the drought report to the centre. ” So far 14 states have sent the reports the centre and sought drought relief from the centre. Why is it that Telangana is delaying,” he asked. Dayakar Rao also wonder why had the government not declared the drought affected mandals in the state even though 50 per cent of crops either failed or not sown in the state.
“The BJP government at Centre is ready to extend the help to state if a proper report is received on drought. As the friendly party of BJP, the TDP is also ready to put pressure on the NDA government to release drought relief liberally,” he said.
He alleged that after boasting that Telangana was rich state, was coming in the way of requesting the centre for help.” Telangana may be a rich state. There are huge mass of poor farmers in the state. So far 1400 farmers have committed suicide. So, the government should not take this as a matter prestige and delay the drought declare drought in the state,” he said. He said false prestige of rich state should not harm the farmers who were in distress.
Initiating the process of reorganization of districts in the state of Telangana, the TRS government constituted a committee to look into possibilities of carving out new districts. Incidentally, the decision came out on the day when a big all-party rally had been taken out in Gadwal demanding a new district and Congress leaders demanding the naming of the proposed new district in Adilabad after Konda Lakshman Bapuji, the first cabinet minister to resign from Kasu Brahmananda Reddy cabinet in 1969.
The state government constituted the committee of secretaries under the chairmanship of chief secretary Rajiv Sharma to give recommendations on reorganization of administrative units which include districts, revenue divisions and revenue mandals. At present there are 10 districts, 43 revenue divisions and 457 mandals in Telangana state. Given the vociferous demand from some sections of people and unwieldy geography of some district, dividing district in two three is a possibility. The talk in TRS circles is that there is a possibility of adding about 14 districts to existing 10. The constitution of the committee stems from the cabinet decision giving its nod to create new districts in the state. The entire process of creating new districts is expected to be completed in 9 to 12 months time.
In some there has been fierce competition within the district for new district. In Mahabubnagar district, Nagarkurnool and Gadwal are competing for new district. The 2015 election had been fought on the plank of working towards to getting a new district. In between Wanaparty is also ambitious of getting status of district. This way Mahabubnagar needs to be divided into three districts. Agitations have been going on in Bhadrachalam, Khammam and Mahbubabad for seperate districts. In all places, the agitation took an all-party form indicating the support the demand garnered from all sections. Leaders from Bhadrachalam revenue division want new district status as compensation for losing nearly 300 villages in seven mandals to the AP in the name of submerged areas in Polavaram project . Tribal organizations the area demand that Bhadrachalam be declared a tribal district by clubbing the five ST reserved constituencies Ashwaraopet, Wyra, Ellandu, Penupaka with Bhadrachalam. Similarly, another important town craving district status is Mahbubabad in Warangal district. Recently local people observed a bandh in support of their demand. From Adilabad, Mancherial division has the support from all parties from district status and is a sure candidate. People from temple town Vemulawada in Karimnagar district are also demanding Vemulawada districct , though there voice is feeble. Jagityal is a strong candidate for district status in the district.
Leader of opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir demanded that the Telangana Government be included ‘Wings of Fire’, the autobiography of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, in the State syllabus.
Supporting the condolence motion moved by Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari on the first day of monsoon session of Legislative Council on Wednesday, Shabbir Ali described Dr. Kalam as the most inspiring personality. He said that as the then minister, he had the privilege of having close interactions with Dr. Kalam on multiple occasions between 2004 and 2007 during his visits to Hyderabad. He said once Dr. Kalam narrated him his childhood incident. An individual had sent a fruit basket to his house after his father was elected as village head. In his father’s absence, he accepted the basket and kept it inside the house. On learning about this, his father got angry and as a punishment he made Dr. Kalam to carry the same basket on his head and returned it to person who gifted it. This incident inspired him so much that Dr. Kalam had spent his entire life fighting corruption.
He demanded that the State Government include ‘Wings of Fire’ in the State Syllabus. He said that the book has already been translated into all languages and therefore, students of all mediums should be made to study Dr. Kalam as a subject. He also demanded construction of a memorial and naming of a new university or scientific institution after Dr. Kalam.
Chhattisgarh is coming to the aide of power starved Telangana. The state will start supplying 1000 MW of power. It will soon be raised to 2000 MW in the next phase. On Tuesday, two states have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply 1,000 MW of power to Telangana in the presence of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in the camp office. Following the division of Andhra Pradesh, new state of Telangana has become deficit state and is not able to provide the continuous power to domestic as well as farm sector. Power deficit has also contributed to the hostility between Andhra and Telangana.
Though the proposal to purchase power from Chhattisgarh has been there for 15 month ,ever since the creation of Telangana, finally, it has come to fruition today with signing of PPA. The PPA is the result of MoU signed on November last year. The MoU signed in the presence of chief minister KCR (Telangana ) and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh). The PPA will be valid for 12 years.
Telangana central power distribution company CMD Raghurami Reddy and Chhattisgarh power distribution company CMD Ankit Anand exchanged the power purchase agreements. Telangana plans to buy 4350 MW of power from Chhattisgarh. Construction of 765 KV double circuit transmission line to evacuate the power from Chhattisgarh is also nearing completion.
[intro]The following is the passionate appeal of Dr Rammohan Rao Nimmagadda to Mental Health Professionals in India to work towards rooting out the psychological sources of suicides and to guide the politicians in preventing them from acting as catalysts in the suicides of farmers and youth. The appeal is also addressed to all right thinking people to take up the responsibility upon themselves to prevent suicides of farmers and youth for a political cause. Dr Nimmagadda is a respected practicing doctor in New South Wales, Australia.[/intro]
Dear Mental Health Professionals in India,
We all know these facts and need no references.Over 90 percent of people who die by suicide have a mental illness at the time of their death. And the most common mental illness is depression.In the UK also, research has shown many people who die by suicide have a mental illness, most commonly depression. “Society made people view depression, a very common illness, primarily as a consequence of our failures, but not as a cause” Hundreds of young people killed themselves because their demand for a separate Telangana state was not met. Politicians went to their houses and praised them as if they are heroes who sacrificed for the sake of their native Land.Farmers all over country are committing suicide daily. Politicians in Government go to their houses and give them money. Opposition believes that their only duty is to blame Government for everything.This is what we see daily in TV.
These actions of praising them as heroes and giving money to families of dead persons further contributing to more suicides. One more incentive to die for people who are thinking of suicide due to untreated invisible mental pain. No one had a doubt on why these young people from average common families are killing themselves for a separate state while children of current Chief Minister of Telangana Mr. KC Rao and others who were working much harder for Telangana state and will be the biggest losers if Telangana state is not formed never tried to commit suicides? Why these farmers are killing themselves while many other farmers in same village with much higher debts and more suffering are not doing it?
People of all backgrounds are committing suicides daily but politicians and media are not interested in them. India accounted for the highest estimated number of suicides in the world in 2012 and officially stated suicides more than 100,000 every year according to a WHO report. People or politicians have no doubts of cause of suicides.They only know that financial problem caused the death. Probably people who cannot think or learn has no doubts.
Their current problem or disappointment or frustration only triggering something they already have. Actions of people and politicians only adding another incentive to commit suicides.
Finding the real cause to remove it may require first thinking and then Psychology autopsy of dead person. If we fail to do it, suicides will never stop. For example if farmers are provided everything they need, are the suicides going to disappear in farmers?
Do we blame ignorant plus arrogant politicians made by people who are forced to live with current imported Democracy and Constitution unsuitable to them? Are we agreeing with Winston Churchill who said that giving freedom and democracy to Indians is like giving stones to mad people? Let us try to look at ourselves first before blaming others. Are the mental health professionals in India doing enough to educate people and Government? Shall we ignore and be silent because politicians are not listening or not consulting relevant professionals on important problems? Are we silent because no one pays us for doing it? As Dr Peter Young, former director of international mental health services recently said “Clinicians are ethically responsible to advocate to policy makers when policies result in measurable heath harm”, we all have ethical or moral responsibility.
Is this negligence by profession not responsible for India having only 37 mental institutions for 1.2 billion people and India spending only 0.8% of its already small health budget on mental health? As a share of the total health budget for mental health, Britain spent the most (12.1 per cent), followed by New Zealand (11), Germany (10), the Netherlands (8), Denmark (8), the U.S. (7.5), Australia (7.4), Ireland (6.8).USA (6) % of the health budget. Is this because mental illness is more in those countries? Please note this spending is unrelated to richness and it is percentage of what we spend. (Correct me if recent figure are not same).
No one can believe that India is a poor country to provide minimum required health services to people if they see how much was spend directly and indirectly by Government for its president visiting Tirupati temple!Look at financial benefits MPs are taking and they are no less than advanced rich countries or how much it costs for Prime minister to attend marriage of his friend or parliamentary delegates visiting other countries? But the country is poor to transport dead body of soldier died in border!
I appeal especially to mental health Profession in India to take it as your responsibility to help to stop these regular suicides. Each suicide permanently destroys whole family. If politicians fail to listen, let us start educating people. All of us agree to Albert Einstein saying that “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” Is this not relevant to educated people in India and more importantly those Indians living overseas who love to discuss for hours about situation in India?
Thank you for reading completely,
Yours sincerely,
Dr Ramamohana Rao Nimmagadda
NSW 2747, Australia
20-09-2015
The World Bank report on ease of doing business in the Indian states seems to have affected morale of the new-born Telangana state. The state expressed displeasure at the World Bank report that pushed the TS to the 13 positions with 42.45 pc. marks. Telangana government which recently released its investor-friendly industrial policy is hopeful of attracting huge investments. The very objective 10-day trip to China by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is to woo Chinese investors to the state banking on the friendly enviroment created in the state by the TRS government. But, the findings of the World Bank study have told a different story. What worried the TRS is the time of the report ie it is made public when KCR busy in showcasing the investment attractiveness of Telangana. If it is an ordinary study, Telangana would not have taken this into congnizance. But, the reports is prepared World Bank in association with professional organizations.
TRS expressed doubts over authenticity of the report. Party MP from Bhongir Dr Boora Narasiah Goud said all the NDA ruled states had got good ranking in the report. ” As we all know , Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu stand first in attracting the investments. But, the ranks are given to Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. And Telangana is assigned 13th rank. This naturally gives rise to doubts in the minds of the people,” he said questioning reliability of the parameters followed in the preparation of report.
“The T state is attracting investments in a big way. Telangana is faring well on all the parameters individually such as Corruption, Land availability, Getting permission, Power, Land registration etc. Then, how can Telangana be pushed to 13 position. Doubts are being raised on the authenticity of the report,” Dr Goud said.
He also said the preparation of report lacked transparency. ” An organization like World Bank should adopt a transparent methodology while assigning ranks to the state as a whole,” he added.
Farmer’s suicides in Telangana have reached 1400. This accounts to 30 deaths in every month and one every day. Medak district, which had known no farmers suicides reported 145 deaths this year. This is leading to a state of hopelessness in the agriculture sector.
It is indeed amazing to see how the situation in four mandals in Zaheerabad contradicts the hues of public and media on farmers desperations. No farmer so far has committed suicide in the four mandals of Zaheerabad despite their farming practice being completely independent on water, electricity and chemical fertilizers. The farmers in this region have been engaged in growing traditional crops with traditional methods (ecological and biodiverse farming). All these farmers express a high level of confidence and motivation who are an inspiration to other farmers.
Meedoddi Vinoda in Nagwar village, Raikode Mandal grows 18 variety of crops worth 2 lakh rupees in her 3 acre of land despite the unfavorable climate conditions using her own seeds and manure. Adjacent to her field is where Tenugu Yadaiah in his farm grows BT cotton as a mono crop with an investment of Rs. 50000/- and earns Rs. 80000/-. He buys seed, manure and pesticides from the external market adding to his borrowed knowledge of farming. His farm fails to fetch him food, fodder for his cattle, a pulse or an oil seed making him completely dependent on an external sources for all of these. In contrast, Vinoda could earn food (Jowar, Korra, pulses, oil seeds) sufficient for her whole family for an entire year making her completely self sufficient. These stories of Vinoda and Yadaiah reflects the current situation of Telangana farmers as a whole. If one story talks about self confidence and hope the other story talks about the hopelessness, dependency and desperation.
Today we are at the cross roads, one of which is to dream high in the path of destruction and the other to accomplish the small hopes and leading aspiration a well being and prosperous state. In order to make Telangana a people friendly State, Government should encourage farmers growing Millets and recognize them as natural assets of this region rather than neglecting these climate resilient crops. Making the traditional knowledge of these farms as the foundation, we should build the Bangaru Telangana.
This is high time for the state to declare Telangana a Millet State. In view of the acute water crisis that stares Indian agriculture in the face Government should declare water bonus for millet farmers who use no irrigated water at all to grow their crops. Issues of searching for piecemeal solution for food and fodder security it should be dealt with a comprehensive approach that is possible with millet cultivation rather than finding discrete solutions.
Such an approach can save upto Rs. 50000 crores which can be used for welfare of farmers and other development activities in agriculture sector. These traditional method of agriculture contributing to environment and human wellbeing fare becomes a help worth thousands of crores to the farmer families.
-Dr PV Satheesh
Internationally renowned developmental communication specialist,
Deccan Development Society (DDS).
Hyderabad.
[intro]AP is judged next to Gujarat in a Comparative Study of Ease of Doing Business in 32 States/UTs while Telangana finishes 13th. Is there more to read in this Survey? How objective is the Study? Lessons for the “Hare” and the “Tortoise”[/intro]
The verdict is out and the timing couldn’t have been better. In a comprehensive survey of the best states to do business (measured in terms of 98-point action plan) conducted by the World Bank Group in association with the CII and FICCI and audited by KPMG, Andhra Pradesh finishes second-best state (next to only Gujarat) while Telangana scored the 13th Rank. With both the states completing more than an year since created, the survey holds a real mirror to what’s working and what’s not for businessmen looking to invest. Despite the disparity in the rank, it is interesting the exercise is generating huge outcries as well as celebrations all over the country losers and winners about the veracity of the rating and assessment of states and UTs.
While the assessment has given rise to competition among States and UTs to undertake reforms, what is not in good taste is to trade charges on the objectivity of the ranking. Here’s why, we feel this rating must be used as an opportunity to take stock of the situation rather than worrying about why the rank is so low.
Firstly, the assessment was made based on data collected through a structured questionnaire that was completed by each state and UT Government. It was then validated through a series of in-depth workshops with State Government representatives, and the collection of supporting evidence on each of the parameters of the questionnaire – including rules, notifications, circulars, website screenshots and a variety of other documents. The data was then evaluated in detail jointly to ensure standard yardstick applied for all States.
State wise ranking
Secondly, the assessment took stock of the reforms implemented by States in the period January 1 to June 30, 2015 – a period which coincided with the fiscal consolidation of most states as they grapple with state finances as well as plans to raise resources for the new financial year. The assessment has a comprehensive array of 285 questions that dumbed down the procedures that will either impede or impel a business to be set up with ease in a State or UT.
Thirdly, the initiative itself was part of the “Make In India” campaign started by the Central Government and endorsed by the CII and FICCI – the country’s apex industrial bodies to do a deep-dive into the readiness and the effectiveness of the States in creating a transparent and effective regulatory framework that will create growth, employment, reduce corruption and spawn Make in India initiatives across entrepreneurs. There is nobody here, not even PM Modi who can influence the overall results and findings because what you see is what you get. Currently, India’s rank itself in the World tables for Ease of doing business is an abysmal 142nd . So, the Central Government embarked on an ambitious initiative to map this ease down to the State level because that is where the tyre hits the road and the tendency to kick the can is high. So, the 98-point Action Plan is chosen to drill the list of all the factors which show whether the policy reforms at the Centre are percolating down to the the State-level. Take for example, the issue of multiple registration of tax numbers. Surprise, Odisha is one of the three States in India which now have one unique ID for all the State taxes including Entertainment Tax. Important to note, because of non-standardisation, reforms get stuck and the entrepreneurs go round in circles. When this Survey was contemplated, the exercise itself was meant to reflect the reality and the gaps while bringing out a healthy competition between various States competing for investments. Overall, this is expected to improve India’s Global Rank in the Top 50.
[pullquote position=”left”]Feedback is the breakfast of Champions. So, it is good for both the states to take this Report in its stride.[/pullquote] Fourthly, there is nothing subjective nor incriminating in the Survey which seriously elevates one state at the cost of another. The survey divides 32 states into ranking based on an overall score which is scientifically arrived at after a self-tick on various parameters. By that count, AP scores 70.12% whereas Telangana scores 42.45%, both of them pipped by Gujarat (71.14%) and Tamil Nadu (44.58%) respectively. It divided the whole list into four categories: States which needed a jumpstart (examples: Bihar and Puducherry), States which required acceleration (Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana), States which are Aspiring Leaders (Surprisingly, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan all these old states share the status alongwith newly-formed states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Jharkand). The fourth category is that of Leaders in which the survey doesn’t name anybody.
Lastly, the survey is not just comprehensive but also complements the States for the best practices which gives a good benchmarking for the benefit of all the States vying with each other for the best. At the same time, it signals wherever progress is not happening for whatever reasons despite an inherent advantage. For instance, lets look at Availability of Land. The survey mentions that 20 States including Telangana have comprehensive details of land banks available. However, only Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu score positively on both parameters. Again, both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh get the pat for formulating a single desk/single window system with clearly defined timelines for application filing, tracking and approvals but AP scores higher than Telangana for creating a Chief Minister’s dashboard used for effective monitoring of the applications received. Apart from Single Window, the real test of the survey is to see how the two factor markets – land and labor – are dealt with by aspiring entrepreneurs while going through the registration process under various State tax authorities. In case of AP, while all land records are digitized, municipal records remain work-in-progress. Similarly, credit where it is due, Telangana has done a commendable job in enforcing contracts by filling up more than 80 per cent vacant district court judge positions; in Infrastructure, only two documents are required for electricity connections and pollution control certificate is no longer a prerequisite.
In summary, there is an old maxim that what gets measured gets done. The Survey gives a reality check on the pace of reforms at the federal level and how that is impacting the ease of doing business. The Report itself quotes one of the Chief Secretaries, “ The study provides a good benchmark for initiating work towards enabling or facilitating ease of doing business. Sustained and time bound efforts would need to be undertaken to make this a long-term success.” There is a scope for vast improvement for Telangana and a need to speed up reforms not taking the state-of-the-art infrastructure in Hyderabad for granted, as per the Survey and right now, Andhra Pradesh is basking in the glory of being voted as next-best after Gujarat despite inheriting a greenfield capital and almost non-existent infrastructure. Feedback is the breakfast of Champions. So, it is good for both the states to take this Report in its stride. It doesn’t help the cause to question the credibility of World Bank or CII – most of the States that surged ahead in the past rankings by KPMG have become magnets for New Investments, they were not cribbers, they were doers.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao continued his interactions and business talks with Chinese investors. On the third of his ten-day trip, he had finished his visit to successful Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) located in Suzhou, a city popular as’ Paradise on Earth’. He was received by Yu Cai Zen, member of the China Singapore Industrial Park Committee. Yu briefed about the origin and development of the park and said that there were about seven Lakh of employees SIP.
Suzhou Industrial Park is an important economic cooperation project between Chinese and Singapore government and covers a total jurisdiction area of 288 sq km, among which 80 sq km area belongs to China-Singapore Cooperative Zone. It is a pilot zone of reform and opening-up and a successful model of international cooperation. It is one of China’s fastest-growing development zones with the most international competitive edges. It has been ranking the first for years among China’s development zones in using foreign capital. Rao shared with Park Committee members the salient features of Telangana State Industrial Policy. The CM also requested Yu and his team to extend their cooperation in developing such industrial parks in Telangana. Yu responded positively, according to CMO sources.
As China’s modernization drive gained momentum in the late 1980s, many Chinese delegations visited Singapore to learn modern management methods, while Singapore was also planning Economic Regionalization focusing on overseas investment. Both governments decided to join hands in developing a modern industrial park in the east of Suzhou. The China–Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park (CS-SIP) was thus born on February 26, 1994 when Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing and Singapore Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew signed the Agreement on the Joint Development of CS-SIP. The China-Singapore Joint Steering Council led by Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi and Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng will hold meeting every year to give directions for the development of SIP.
On Friday night Indian ambassador in Beijing Ashok K Kantha hosted dinner to the visiting chief minister. On arrival for the dinner CM signed in the Guests’ register at Ambassador’s house. Earlier he reached China capital from Shanghai after staying two days there. While in Shanghai, CM had an interaction with Yogesh Wagh, Director of Anju Infrastructure, a China based leading company. The CM explained in detail the Telangana State Industrial Policy to Yogesh who evinced keen interest and expressed his preparedness to invest in Telangana State. CM invited him to visit Telangana for which he responded positively.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao requested Professor Klaus Schwab, the Executive Chairman of World Economic Forum (WEF) to hold the next meeting at Hyderabad and Schwab responded to it positively.
Rao met Schwab this morning at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions at Dalian in China, the foremost global business gathering in Asia, which is known as the “Summer Davos.” They both had discussions for about 30 minutes and CM briefed him on various economic and social aspects of Telangana state, including significance of Hyderabad City in India.
Schwab praised Telangana as a state renowned for social and economic innovations. He said, “I enjoyed meeting the Chief Minister of a state renowned for social and economic innovations in India. We look forward to his participation at our Annual Meeting of New Champions in China.” Responding to Schwab CM said that “It was wonderful to meet Klaus Schwab and learn about the tremendous impact that the World Economic Forum has had. I am impressed by him and his team.”
Nizambad MP Kavita took up the right cause. Telangana is being given little attention by the centre in many respects, especially in the development of tourism. None of the state’s centres with tourism potential figured in the list of tourism centres the union government planning to develop. Recently union government has launched PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive ).Under this program 12 cities -Amritsar, Ajmer, Dwaraka, Mathura, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Amaravati, Kanchipuram, Vellankanni, Kedarnath and Guwahati- cities have been identified for development. None of the Telangana cities- such as Basara, Bhadrachalam or Yadagiri Gutta, Kaleswaram etc figured in the list.
The union tourism ministry has sanctioned Rs 131 lakh for the development of four rural tourism sites. The states in which these sites are Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Tripura. Apart from that, it has launched a new scheme called Swadesh Darshan for integrated development of tourist circuits around specific themes. Telangana is conspicuous by absence in these plans.
So, Nizambad MP met union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma to get Bhadrachalam included in the proposed Ramayana circuit. Unless pressure is mounted Bhadrachalam is unlikely to draw attention of BJP led NDA government. Because, though BJP sought votes reciting Rama and Ram temple, it never looked southwards to promote Bhadrachalam during previous NDA regimes. No BJP national Ram Bhakt had ever thought of visiting the Rama of Bhadradri. She also sought to generous funds for the development of country’s only Saraswati temple.
But, we want to remind the Kavita, knows for tenacity, that there is another aspect of tourism which many tend to forget: the Jain culture. Apart from Ramayana circuits, the center is planning to develop three spiritual circuits across the country namely Buddhist Circuit, Jain Circuit and Sufi Circuit.
Kavita and state government should work to get Jain sites included in the proposed Jain spiritual circuit. Telangana has got many Jain sites which are reeling under negligence. Kolanupaka Jain Mandir is one such site to be developed by the centre. Kolanupaka flourished during Rashtrakuta period in 11th century A.D. as a major Jain centre. Bringing this under Jain circuit raises the Telangana profile in the tourism sector.
Prof M Kodandaram is planning an agitation for farmers. As his political JAC is now almost defunct with its activities getting reduced to periodic meetings of in-consequence, the political science teacher from Osmania university, is all set to reincarnate himself into a farmers’ leader. He is also planning a separate JAC for farmers. For the past two months he has been busy with farmers agitations. He participated in tractor rally in Telangana, later part took in the national rally of farmers organized by another political scientist Yogendra Yadav.
To prove his commitment to farming community, he demanded a compensation for the crop lost due to failure of monsoons in Telangana. He demanded that Rs 10,000 be paid per acre for lost crop and Rs 50,000 as bank loan to take up alternative activities. Kodandaram talked on the need to have a separate JAC to fight for the cause of farmers. He is of the opinion that the farming sector is passing through a serious crisis.
Today he participated in dharna organized by Telangana Rythu Rakshana Samiti (TRRS).“This is the second year in succession that drought has hit the district. There have been no rains after July and the farmers have lost hopes.. Banks are failing to extending credit tof farmers despite assurance from the government,” Kodandaram observed addressing farmers at a dharna in front of the Collecorate at the district headquarters on Friday organized by TRRS. it is not known yet if upcoming JAC would fight against the
TRS government or confine itself to the ‘general welfare of farmers’ talk.
Though chief minister Chandrababu Naidu plans to build new capital Amaravati into a world-class city, it would be free of casinos and race-course. This was made clear by finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu today in Assembly when BJP member suggested that government should consider setting up casinos in Amaravati. Even though casinos and race-clubs help shore up revenues, there was no proposal to set up casinos in new capital, the minister said.
According to Vishnukumar Raju, several people from Visakhapatnam and Godavari districts often go outside the state to play and place bets in casinos in Goa and Sri Lanka. Government should think of establishing casinos, horse racing clubs in the Amaravati to make city an entertainment centre as well.
“If Casinos are set up in the State itself, government can earn revenue from these centres in the form of taxes”, P. Vishnukumar Raju said participating in a discussion on the amendment to AP (Telangana Area) Horse Racing and Betting Tax Regulation.
The Finance Minister however responded that there was no proposal now to set up casinos.
Inventive Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is planning to have exclusive foreign liquor retail outlets in Hyderabad.Now foreign liquor and India made foreign liquor both are sold in the same shops. Now KCR wants swanky shops on the lines of show rooms of foreign brands like Adiadas , Nike etc. Hyderabad doesn’t have any showroom for liquor. He has instructed prohibition and excise commissioner to formulate moralities to start foreign liquor shops in city to make it foreign branded liquor available to the Hyderabad public. In Hyderabad fake brands have become too common. These showroom will sell all foreign brands and state wants to make available to 100 brands of pure foreign liquor to the tipplers of hitech Hyderabad. The government noticed that the demand for pure foreign liquor is on the rise in Hyderabad. In the first round these shops will be run by government.
In a belated move, the Telangana BJP is planning a state-wide tour to campaign against the anti-people policies of TRS government. BJP state president G Kishan Reddy and BJLP leader K Lakshman announced this today. They criticized the lack of sense of priority on the part of the TRS government in implementing the project. “So, we want to put pressure on the government by mobilizing the people to take up the ongoing projects and complete them immediately, instead of going in for new projects,” they said.
“If the state government invests Rs 1,000 crore, four important projects in the water-starved Mahbubnagar district would be completed within a year. These projects can irrigate thousands of acres and help farmers come out of poverty, which is forcing them to commit suicides. Instead, the government is laying foundations stones for new projects with huge expenditure, ” G Kishan Reddy said.
“The government announced a whopping Rs 35,000 crore for the Palamur-RR lift irrigation project and is not willing to release just Rs 1,000 crore for four important projects in the district which are in the final stages of completion?” he wondered. Dubbing the TRS government `a government of words and not work’, Reddy said that “the chief minister has tendency to give assurances on stage during his tours and forgets the moment he leaves the venue.”
Reddy and Lakshman opposed the cheap liquor policy of the state government stating it was meant to serve the vested interests.
Highly placed sources in the Telangana government told Telugu360.com that T-cabinet was likely to review the decision to introduce the cheap liquor in mission mode. Following the widespread resentment over the cheap liquor , chief minister KCR government is said to be having second thoughts over the introduction cheap liquor at every street corner in villages at the rate of Rs 15 per 90 ml.
The government thinks that opposition from women would serve as a great pretext to beat a honorable retreat.
The cheap liquor decision and CM KCRs’ justification that the un-adulterated liquor would work as body pain reliever for rural folk after hard-day’s work met with an unprecedented opposition, especially from the women folk. The issue has brought all the political parties-from right to extreme left- and mass organization together into a joint action committee under the convener ship of Prof PL Visweswar Rao, noted social justice activist. Already, Congress has been campaigning aggressively against the cheap liquor. Rasta rokos and dharnas have become order of the day. In this backdrop, according to sources , the government is thinking of going slow on the issue.
“The cabinet, which is meeting on September 2, is expected to discuss the policy vis-à-vis political fallout. Many ministers and MLAs are said to have conveyed to the TRS supremo that going against the public sentiment will tarnish the image of the party with women,” sources said. Some amendment in the policy with regard to the cheap liquor is expected before the October 1, when this policy will come into force. The looming drought situation in the state is also said to be working on the government to take a relook into the policy. ” Drought will affect the family economy. As there would be no crops people have to make do with whatever small amounts they earn from alternative works like MNREGS. So, cheap liquor will have the potential to rob the families of this meager income also,” said the sources.
Nizambad MP and daughter of Telangana chief minister Kavita charged that Prime Minister Modi was not following the spirit of cooperative federalism. Criticizing that the Rs 1.65 lakh crore special package PM Modi announced for Bihar, which is going to polls soon, Kavita demanded Modi that he should treat all the states equally.
“Today in the country, we know that there is a lot of instability and discussion happening more on cooperative federalism, which Modiji has often spoken about. We are very sorry to say that he has not honored his words and he has not kept his promises. Cooperative federalism does not mean that you will only view states, which are going to elections. He (PM) has to have an equal view on all the states,” Kavita said in a statement.
According to Kavita the Bihar special package has not gone well with many states. “Look at all states in an equitable manner. Giving away Rs 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar, certainly has not gone (down) well with many states. We can only request the Prime Minister to ensure, that he looks upon all the states equally, she said advising a joint fight by Telugu states for the what is due to them. Otherwise, she cautioned, their voice would get lost in the vast nation.Despite their differences, she said,” If something has to be demanded from the Centre, I certainly believe that two people, people of two states, have to come together both politically and also people wise and then fight for our cause. Otherwise, in a country so huge, we cannot be heard.”
Noted social scientist Prof Kancha Ilaiah today took strong objection to the way the Telangana government interfering in the functioning of newspapers and media. Citing cases booked against him and Andhra Jyothi editor for publishing an article titled, ” Is God A Democrat ?” but for High Court, the police would have harassed him and the newspaper editor Ilaiah thanked the court for staying the investigation against him by the police, and other civil society organization for backing him in his fight against what he called “fascist” tendencies in the Telangana government.
Talking to media this morning, he said complaints had been filed against his books in many states, but no state government had ever allowed police to book cases against him as was done in Telangana. He feels that the police registered the case against him with the full knowledge of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao just because he took the view that separate Telangana state would be a feudal kingdom where ordinary masses continue to suffer and it would go in the way of Bimaru states such MP,Bihar etc if the was disconnected from the coast.
He expressed shock that Marxist intellectuals in the company of T-government, who talk of civil rights also keeping silent when the rights of a social scientist to inquire, research and publish his findings in newspapers.
He advised the state government to frame guidelines for journalists and columnists so that they would be knowing what to write and what not in the state of Telangana. “You(chief minister KCR) have ace journalists like Allam Narayana , who is chairman, Telangana press academy, and eminent professor like G Haragopal, Kodandaram Reddy and Ghanta Chakrapani. You can formulate guidelines for journalists and newspapers so that they would be knowing which hurts the government and which is not,” he said.
Ilaiah said he would be happy to follow the guidelines framed by the eminent people before writing articles for newspapers as he they were more informed and intellectual than he was.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury cautioned TRS government in Telangana not to create situation where Gujarat Patel like movement emerges in the new born state by pursuing anti-people policies. Yechuri, who was in Hyderabad, expressed dissatisfaction over the way chief minister government was functioning in Telagana. The CPM leader was obviously referring to the feeling of left out among the members of SC, ST, OBC and Minority groups.
“Telangana has got substantial population of SCs, STs, BCs and other minority communities. TRS government should fulfill the aspirations before discontentment erupts among these vast mass of marginalized section,” he said.
Yechuri , flanked by T-CPM secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram,said the agitation for OBC status by the Patel community had exposed chinks in the “Gujarat model” which Modi was attempting to thrust at national level.
“That a well-to-do community like Patidars hit the streets on agitation for reservations shows the the high degree of discontent among the people. This is clear indication to the fact that Gujarat model was faulty and not inclusive. It benefited only a few,” he said.
Yechuri alleged mismanagement of the Gujarat society by Gujarat government then by Modi and now by his predecessor. The Patidar anger in Gujarat should serve as a wake-up call to the KCR regime which had failed to live up to the expectation of the people, he warned.
You can have booze like tea or coffee in Telangana. In the new state, which boasts to become a golden state and of course, it needs huge funding, a cup of coffee costs Rs 10 to Rs 15 depending the hotel. Instead of tea, one can by a large peg (90 ml) with the same amount, at Rs 15. Thanks to new liquor policy, which got the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s nod Friday, Telangana folk can relax after a day-long hard labor, by buying peg-bottle at the outlets at all street corners of villages. And there is no limit to the number of shops to be set up at Mandal level. Another good news for people, the government has made it mandatory for all liquor shops to sell 40 per cent cheap liquor of their total sales.Though the proposal to keep the bars and wine shops open round the clock is kept in abeyance, the new policy has given a go ahead for the cheap liquor sales across the state. To make it accessible to the poor, a small bottle of 90 ml is fixed at Rs 15 while that of 180 ml at Rs 30. Government wants to earn a whopping Rs 16000 crore from liquor sales this year.
However, signing of new liquor policy by chief mminister KCR has been greeted by protest by women in Hyderabad. On Saturday, all political parties are meeting in Kalia Bhavan to chalk out their program of action. PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, TDP leader Errabali Dayakar, BJP floor leader Dr Lakshman, YSRCP MP Ponguleti Venkata Reddy, Telangana porata Vedika, Cheruku Sudhakr, intellectuals Prof PL Visweswar Rao, Kancha Ilaiah etc are attending the meeting. While TDP woman’s wing vowed to fight the policy till it is withdrawn, Congress woman’s wing staged it first protest, led by Mahila Congress president Nerella Sarada, at Gun park. TDP woman’w wing chief Sobha Rani decried TRS oft repeated statement that they were implementing the agenda of ‘Annalu’. She asked KCR’s daughter and MP Kavita so show the proof that Annalu supported the cheap liquor. The women announced that they would start the agitation with a bang from October 2, the day of Gandhi Jayanti.
